Local and national governments face many complex societal problems, from obesity to homelessness to air pollution. Historically, these issues have been dealt with in isolation by single organisations and through reactive actions (e.g. educating people to have healthier diets).
To truly address these issues effectively, a "systems approach" is needed. This involves tackling the root causes of poor population health by getting organisations, government departments, and communities to work together, and implement several actions and policies simultaneously.
We’ve seen a surging wave of international interest in systems approaches over the last decade, especially in the field of obesity prevention. But what are they? What do they look like? Are they different from previous approaches? How can they be evaluated? Are they effective? Who do they benefit? Are they equitable?
In this talk, Dr Nobles will reflect on his work around systems approaches, whilst sitting at the intersect of research, practice, and policy. (Disclaimer, not all questions above will be answered!).
The talk will: (i) pose several questions about the current high-quality evidence base around obesity prevention, particularly that used to inform policy making; (ii) summarise the published evidence on systems approaches to obesity prevention; (iii) highlight our applied work with local governments in the UK to design and implement a systems approach; and (iv) outline several avenues to strengthen such approaches – and associated research – in the future.